One of the highlights of our occasional visits to my parents when the winter in Florida is driving around Marco Island and seeing all the burrowing owls who set up shop there. The areas around the burrows are roped off and there are "Watch out for burrowing owl" signs around. Also, the town builds little perches for them. One visit, we s…
One of the highlights of our occasional visits to my parents when the winter in Florida is driving around Marco Island and seeing all the burrowing owls who set up shop there. The areas around the burrows are roped off and there are "Watch out for burrowing owl" signs around. Also, the town builds little perches for them. One visit, we saw like a half dozen all out on perches. Another time, our only sighting was one little dude running over to his hole in the ground.
Thanks to the way burrowing owls (which I will forever call "burrow owls" because of the Dead Milkmen) bob their heads when looking at you, some folks call them "howdy birds." Naturally, my spouse and I will always say, "Howdy, bird!" to any burrowing owl we see.
There's a couple good birding spots -- burrowing owls have burrows in a couple different neightborhoods, there is (or has been) a pair of bald eagles nesting there pretty regularly, and Tigertail Beach can be really good for shorebirds, herons & egrets, gulls, and pelicans. I also got my lifer swallow-tailed kite there. The nearby Marsh Trail that's part of the Ten Thousand Island NWR is wild in the evening since it's a big rookery, so there will be hundreds of herons, egrets, ibis, and other birds flying in to roost for the night.
One of the highlights of our occasional visits to my parents when the winter in Florida is driving around Marco Island and seeing all the burrowing owls who set up shop there. The areas around the burrows are roped off and there are "Watch out for burrowing owl" signs around. Also, the town builds little perches for them. One visit, we saw like a half dozen all out on perches. Another time, our only sighting was one little dude running over to his hole in the ground.
Thanks to the way burrowing owls (which I will forever call "burrow owls" because of the Dead Milkmen) bob their heads when looking at you, some folks call them "howdy birds." Naturally, my spouse and I will always say, "Howdy, bird!" to any burrowing owl we see.
Anyway, sticking with the owls.
Native Floridian here who’s never been to Marco Island but now I have a reason to!
There's a couple good birding spots -- burrowing owls have burrows in a couple different neightborhoods, there is (or has been) a pair of bald eagles nesting there pretty regularly, and Tigertail Beach can be really good for shorebirds, herons & egrets, gulls, and pelicans. I also got my lifer swallow-tailed kite there. The nearby Marsh Trail that's part of the Ten Thousand Island NWR is wild in the evening since it's a big rookery, so there will be hundreds of herons, egrets, ibis, and other birds flying in to roost for the night.